Rapid Assessment and Response Strategy

SRCD has committed to expanding its engagement on social and public policy issues that are informed by child development research. To this end, we seek to be both proactive and rapidly reactive to such issues as they arise. Our power and authority as an organization stems from our ability to showcase our science. The goal of this process is to enable any member of our organization to nominate a topic for rapid engagement. This process involves consultation with policy and content experts among the membership, SRCD executive staff, Caucuses and committees, and governing council representation. Dissemination of evidence of relevance to children and families from adversely affected marginalized and vulnerable populations globally is especially important. This preliminary process will evolve based on feedback and assessments of efficacy.

SRCD’s unique contributions to public/government discourse rest on our status as a scholarly organization, and our power stems from our research focus. The Rapid Response process is guided by several overarching principles to which SRCD’s Governing Council is committed:

SRCD will generate exclusively research-focused responses. Stand-alone position statements or opinion statements will not be generated, and engagement will only occur when there is compelling research evidence addressing the issue.

SRCD will be judicious about drawing evidence-based assertions only when the preponderance of evidence is weighty and clear. Limited research or lack of research consensus may be grounds for a non-response, although the Governing Council may also opt to generate a response explicitly noting that research consensus is lacking.

SRCD is committed to conducting briefings or preparing evidence summaries for governmental representatives when relevant, including members of federal legislative bodies or their staff. However, Governing Council has a standing policy against direct lobbying for or against specific pieces of legislation.

Rapid Assessment and Response Strategy Team

To support the ability to respond rapidly to current events relevant to Developmental Science, the process below involves the formation of a response team. The Rapid Assessment and Response Strategy (RARS) Team will serve in an advisory capacity and will be responsible for delving deeply into the content and implications of any nominated issue before formulating a recommendation.

The RARS Team will consist of nine members representing various constituencies from the SRCD membership.

RARS Team (January 1, 2019 - December 31, 2021)

Group of Representation

Representative Name

Affiliation

Science & Social Policy Committee

Kelly Fisher

Johns Hopkins University

Tri-Caucus

Eleanor Seaton

Arizona State University

International Affairs Committee

Charissa Cheah

University of Maryland - Baltimore County

Ethnic & Racial Issues/Equity & Justice Committees

Christia Brown

University of Kentucky

Teaching Committee

Virginia Tomkins

Ohio State University - Lima

Governing Council

Michael Cunningham

Tulane University

At-Large Member

Zewelanji Serpell

Virginia Commonwealth University

At-Large Member

Ruby Takanishi

New America

At-Large Member

Ariel Kalil

University of Chicago

Process for Reviewing Rapid Response Requests

Step 1. Action is triggered by a proposal submitted to SRCD Executive Staff to respond

A proposal to consider rapid response to an issue may be submitted by members of the Executive Committee, Governing Council, Policy Committee, other committees or Caucuses, SRCD executive staff, or individual members.

Proposals should be submitted to SRCD’s Director for Policy (Marty Zaslow, mzaslow[at]srcd.org) or Executive Director (Laura Namy, LNAMY[at]srcd.org) via email, and the request will be reviewed by SRCD Executive Staff (Executive Director, Director for Policy, Director for Science, and Director of Communications).

The Executive Staff and the President will review the request and assess whether it warrants consideration for a rapid response. The bar will be set low for proceeding to Step 2.

Step 2. Governing Council will consider whether the proposal to respond warrants consideration.

Upon notification by the Executive staff, the GC will generally respond within 48 hours with an initial assessment of whether to proceed to Step 3 based on whether they believe the issue is relevant and is likely to have sufficient evidence to generate an evidence-based response.

Executive staff and RARS Team will coordinate to determine whom to consult to solicit additional content expertise as appropriate from among committees, Caucuses, and other members. Following input from content experts, RARS Team will confer to determine their recommended course of action

Step 4. RARS Team conveys recommendation to executive staff regarding whether and if so, how to respond.

Step 5. Executive staff brief GC about the issue.

Step 6. GC confers and notifies executive staff of decision regarding whether and if so, how to respond.

Note: A decision not to continue the Rapid Response process for a given topic does not preclude SRCD from taking other action to address a given topic. The Rapid Response is one mechanism SRCD has for addressing issues of significance, timeliness, and relevance, but is not the only mechanism for SRCD engagement on issues in the public interest.